


night ends the same in this ghost town

by ShyAudacity



Series: Riverdale Prompt Fills [3]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Anxiety, Asexual Jughead Jones, Bisexual Archie Andrews, Boys Kissing, Coming Out, Crying, Drowning, Eventual Romance, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 19:03:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10973445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: "He looks down at his hands, wringing them together. “I can’t be here, Juggie. Not right now…it’s too hard. I feel like this town is suffocating me.”Jughead nods in agreement. “I hear you. You know what we could do? We could finally go on that road trip like we were supposed to before all of this shit went down. It would be good to get out of town for a few days, don’t you think?”Archie looks at him quizzically. “Where exactly did you have in mind? Besides it’s not like we can plan a road trip in two days.”“That’s where I come in; I have a plan.”ORAnon asked: Can you do a jarchie au where they do go on the road trip but it doesn't really lead to jarchie til they get home?





	night ends the same in this ghost town

**Author's Note:**

> I loved this prompt, shout-out to the anon who gave it to me. Title from To Kiss A Girl by Lindenfelzer and Carey.

It’s lunch time, the whole squad is sitting at their usual table, but Archie isn’t paying attention to the conversation. His dad had been cleared to go back to work this week, and he finds himself compulsively checking his phone every ten minutes. After everything that had had happened recently, his dad getting shot, Cheryl trying to kill herself and then setting _her house_ on fire, he’s feeling more than a little on edge.

He doesn’t realize anyone is speaking to him until fingers are snapping in his face, startling him.

“Hm- sorry, what?” Everyone is looking at him now like a kicked puppy.

“I asked how your dad is doing.” Kevin says.

“Oh, um…you know.” Archie is at a loss for words, feels his heart sink for some reason at the mention of his father. “Sorry, I uh- I just remembered- homework.”

He gets up, abandoning his lunch and his friends, then all but runs to the lounge area. He barrels into the surprisingly empty room, choking out a small cry as he nearly runs into the back of the couch. Archie takes a deep breath, willing himself to calm down, telling himself _this is stupid why are you crying you’re overreacting_.

A throat clears behind him and he whirls around to find Jughead in the doorway.

“Anything I can help with? Homework or otherwise?”

Archie rubs his face on his sleeve. “No, no I’m good just…stressed out. That’s all.”

“I understand,” Jughead says, stepping forward. “Hell, I’d be more worried if you weren’t stressed out. Especially after everything that has gone on in the last few months.”

He looks down at his hands, wringing them together. “I can’t be here, Juggie. Not right now…it’s too hard. I feel like this town is suffocating me.”

Jughead nods in agreement. “I hear you. You know what we could do? We could finally go on that road trip, like we were supposed to before all of this shit went down. It would be good to get out of town for a few days, don’t you think?”

“We can’t just leave town.”

“Sure, we can. We don’t have school on Friday, right? So, we leave Friday morning, hangout for the weekend and then drive back to town on Sunday. It won’t be as extravagant as our plans for the original road trip, but it would still be fun.”

Archie looks at him quizzically. “Where exactly did you have in mind? Besides it’s not like we can plan a road trip in two days.”

“That’s where I come in; I have a plan.”

*

Jughead and Archie make plans to drive upstate to Dimeville, the two of them head out around noon on Friday. Jughead says that Betty gave him permission to use her family’s lake house for the weekend, as long as they left it in the same condition it was in when they arrived.

Once, they’re out of the city limits for Riverdale, Archie feels himself begin to breathe a little easier. It’s a five-hour drive to the lake house, so the two of them switch off drivers after every pit stop. Jughead spends nearly the first hour of the drive not so subtly complaining about Archie’s taste in music. Archie rolls his eyes at him then offers to change the music anyways.      

Both of them sing along at the top of their lungs when “Livin’ on a prayer” by Bon Jovi comes on ten minutes later. Jughead is smiling to himself when the song ends, but still makes Archie promise not to tell anyone, not even Betty.

“I have a reputation to maintain, Andrews,” He says. “I can’t have people thinking that I know how to _enjoy myself_ , that would ruin my image.”

The two of them get to the lake house around just as the sun is going down. The house itself is quaint, more than enough for both Archie and Jughead. The kitchen and the living room connect into one larger room, giving it a cozy but spacious feeling. The sliding glass doors look out onto the backyard, this is where they set up their camping gear for the night.

Jughead insists that they build a campfire after they’ve unpacked in the bedroom with two twin beds. It’s slightly warmer here than it is in Riverdale, but nonetheless there’s a chill in the air. Archie finds the firewood, uses the matches he’d brought to burn up a few newspapers that he’d found in the back of the truck.

Once it’s time to make smore’s, Jughead realizes he grabbed peanut butter cups instead of just plain milk chocolate.

Archie shrugs at the idea. “Who knows, it could be good?”    

Three minutes later, once Jughead has burnt his marshmallows to match his hair and Archie’s are barely even toasted, the two boys sink their teeth into the treat. Both of them moan as soon as it touches their taste buds, reveling in the flavor.

“This is the closest I’m ever gonna get to an orgasm.” Jughead says, his mouth already inches away from his second helping.

Archie sputters, nearly choking on his smore’s. “Wait, what?”

“Oh, shit, that’s right I didn’t tell you.”

Archie raises an eyebrow in confusion. “Didn’t tell me what, Jughead?”

“I’m ace,” He admits, gesturing towards himself. “It’s technically called asexual, but you know how I feel about labels. It’s different for everyone who identifies this way, but in my case, I don’t feel sexual attraction. Even if I did, I don’t know that I’d actually want to do anything sexual with someone else. The whole idea of sex is kind of gross to me.”

Archie is only a little bit surprised. He’d never seen Jughead show much interest in girls, or anybody for that matter. “Okay, that’s cool. Well, wait- what about romantic attraction? Do you feel that?”

Jughead looks down, digging his converse into the dirt. “Sometimes.”

Archie nods, then feels brave himself. “Since we’re sharing secrets, I’m bi.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

He shrugs, “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Besides, it’s not like this is going to make you look at me any differently, is it?”

“Nah,” Jughead says. “I guess not. Hey, remind me to thank Betty for letting us use the lake house. We owe her big time.”

“You’re her boyfriend, I’m sure you’ll make it up to her somehow, right?”

Jughead grimaces. “We uh- we’re broken up.”

“What? Since when?”

“Two weeks ago? I should’ve told you, we’ve just had a lot going on with- well, you know. It was a mutual thing, nothing to go up in arms about, honestly. We both realized now that the whole Jason Blossom thing has been figured, we didn’t have much to talk about anymore. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a still my friend… I just don’t see her as a girlfriend anymore.”

“Yeah, I understand that.” Archie replies. “Things are kind of that way between me and Veronica.”

“I thought you said that you guys had your moment after the Jubilee.”

“No, no we did. I like her, I do, but I think it was more of a one-time thing. You know?”

He nods.

Archie and Jughead pull out their sleeping bags shortly after that. They set up camp a few feet away from the bonfire, having decided to let the fire burn overnight. They fall asleep under the stars and a mess of tree branches, the hum of crickets in the distance lulling both of them into sleep.   

*

Archie wakes up to a bird chirping in his ear a few feet away, the fading smell of smoke in the air. Squinting against the midday light, he sits up and rubs his eyes. He looks over to Jughead’s sleeping bag and finds it empty. Jughead’s notebook is open on top of his pillow, the page says: _went down to the dock._

Archie gets up, pulls on his shoes and walks himself down to the lake. The closer he gets, he can see Jughead standing at the edge of the dock, wearing only his jeans from the night before and his classic grey, crown shaped beanie. Archie is about to call out to him when Jughead shifts his body weight, loses his footing, then falls into the water below him. He smacks the back of his head on the wood platform as he goes under.

“Shit, Jug!” Archie exclaims. He rips off his shirt, then jumps into the water after him.

The water is colder than he expected, its bites at his skin the moment Archie comes into contact with it. That doesn’t stop him from searching until his lungs feel like they’re going to explode. When he comes up for air, Archie doesn’t see Jughead anywhere and his level of panic seems to double. He dives back under, forcing his eyes open against the foggy water.

It takes him longer than he’d like to find Jughead, but he eventually spots him near where he’d fallen in, at the base of the dock. Archie is quick to get an arm around Jughead’s waist and pull him to the surface. His head lolls against Archie’s shoulder as he maneuvers the two of them back onto the dock. Archie lays him down on his back, one hand holding the back of his head.

“Juggie?”

Archie is half a second away from giving him mouth to mouth when Jughead begins choking. The gray, dirty lake water spills out of his mouth the corners of his mouth as he gags. Archie rolls him onto his side, one hand on Jughead’s chest and another in between his shoulder blades. Jughead cranes his neck around, looking up at him blearily.

“Thanks.” He rasps once the coughing has subsided.

Archie drops his forehead onto Jughead’s bare shoulder in relief, sighing deeply. “Does anything hurt? Other than your head.”

“Only my pride.”  

Archie huffs out a miserable laugh, rolling his eyes lightly. He’s freezing, but he doesn’t care about that right now. Instead, Archie eases him into a sitting position, then gives Jughead the shirt he’d taken off in his haste to rescue Jughead. Archie insists on giving him a piggy back ride back to the lake house, seeing as Jughead gets dizzy the moment he’s on his own two feet again. Archie can feel the raven-haired teen trembling against his bare back, and it makes him anxious all over again.

“Don’t pass out on me, alright Jug?” He says, tightening his grip on Jughead’s legs.

“No promises.” Jughead mumbles into his shoulder.

 “Just keep talking to me, okay? We’re almost back at the lake house.”

Archie picks up his speed as best he can, Jughead rambling on about some article he’d read last week. He’s not listening, he’s too focused on making sure that the two of them make it back without completely falling apart. It’s at least a ten-minute walk and somehow Archie makes it in six. He deposits Jughead on the couch once they’re inside.

“I’m going to find you some dry clothes, will you be okay on your own for a minute?”

“I think I can manage.” Jughead deadpans, draping an arm over his eyes.

Archie goes into the bedroom and starts digging until he finds Jughead’s duffle bag. As he’s pulling different clothing articles out, he sees a familiar logo out of the corner of his eye. Archie pulls back one of Jughead’s shirts and finds a leather jacket with the Southside Serpents logo at the bottom of the duffle.

“What the hell?” He whispers to himself. He runs a hand over the material, confused as to why it would be in Jughead’s bag. A thought grows in the back of his head, yelling at him, saying that Jughead has joined the Serpents, but he pushes it down. The Jughead that Archie knows, his _best friend,_ would never do something like that. Not without telling him or at least talking to him about it first... Right?

Getting back to the task at hand, Archie finds Jughead’s sweat pants and an extra sweatshirt, then goes back out to the living room where he’d left Jughead.

“Here, I found your sweats.” He says.   

Jughead removes his arm from his eyesight, then glares at Archie for making him move. Slowly, he stands up, then shucks his wet jeans down to his ankles. He laughs lightly when he sees Archie staring directly at the ceiling.

“Dude, it’s just me. We’ve been changing in front of each other since we were kids, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

Nonetheless, Archie looks away while Jughead pulls on his sweats, only looking at him again when he moves to fully lie down on the couch.

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“I have a headache, Arch. I’m sleeping it off.” He says, rolling over so his back is facing the red head.

“What? No, you could have a concussion, you can’t- you know what, who cares. But I’m waking you up in an hour.”

 *

Archie shakes Jughead’s shoulder and he grunts.

“There’s no way that was an hour.”

“You’re right, it wasn’t. It was two and a half. You’ll thank me when you don’t fall into a coma from sleeping with a concussion.” Archie says, holding out a peace offering of tea and an ice pack.

Jughead takes it begrudgingly, then follows Archie into the kitchen. Jughead looks around, patting the top of his head with a confused face. 

“Hey, where’s my beanie?”

“It’s in the bathroom sink, I was letting it dry out. Can I ask you something?” Archie inquires.

“Shoot.”

“Why is there a Southside Serpent’s jacket in your duffle bag? I wasn’t trying to snoop, I swear, I just noticed it when I was looking for your sweats earlier.”

“It’s nothing,” Jughead says, taking a seat at the counter. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Nothing? How could you say that this is nothing, Jug? This isn’t nothing, it’s serious. The Serpents are obviously trying to coerce you into becoming a gang member or something. Why else would they give you the jacket?”

“Because they protect their own, Archie, the Serpents watch out for one another.” Jughead very nearly snaps, anger spreading across his face. “They heard about what happened to my dad and they wanted to help. He could have thrown all of them under the bus, hell he could have turned his back on all of them and ruined their lives but _he didn’t._ The Serpents weren’t trying to coerce me into doing anything, they were thanking me on his behalf with that jacket.”

“But they want you to join them, don’t they?”  

“They didn’t say it in as many words but yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if it came up someday.”

“I have a bad feeling about this, why didn’t you just say no? What could they have possibly offered you that was so grand that you couldn’t say no to it?”

“The Serpents promised to look out for me while my dad is away. Are you really going to tell me that you wouldn’t be relieved if someone offered to take you in after your dad got hurt? No, you wouldn’t. Not all of the Serpents are good people but I’m not going to refuse someone offering to watch out for me. Half of the town already thinks I’m going to shoot up the school someday, it’d be nice to have someone on my side, don’t you get that? The Serpents are standing up for me!”

“Oh, so what, I’m not?” Archie accuses. “You think that my dad and I just let you come live at our house out of pity? No! We wanted you to stay with us because we care about you, Jughead. You’re forgetting that _I’ve got your back too._ Not just the Serpents, they aren’t the only ones who could keep you safe.”

“Yeah, but we’re not exactly friends, are we? It’s always been mo-.” Jughead cuts himself off, shaking his head. “You know what- forget it.”

 Jughead gets up, pushing away from the counter.

“Jug, wait- I didn’t.” He sighs, watching Jughead walk out the backdoor.

Archie knows instantly that he messed up, curses himself internally for not keeping his mouth shut. He waits a solid minute before deciding to follow Jughead, knowing that there’s only one place he could go on foot.

Jughead is sitting at the dock this time around, his feet hanging off the edge. He doesn’t respond as Archie comes and sits down next to him. He nudges Jughead with his elbow before speaking.   

“I’m sorry for not being more understanding, that’s not fair to you.”

“I know you’re sorry, it’s part of your character.” Jughead sighs, laying back to look at the sky. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about the jacket. I was trying to avoid something like this from happening. I don’t like being mad at you.”

“For what it’s worth, I don’t like when we fight.” Archie tells him. “Hey, uh- back at the house, what were you saying about us being friends?”

Jughead shakes his head, opening his mouth to speak but it’s ruined by the sound of thunder rolling in the distance. Archie looks up realizing that the clouds have turned gray on them, threatening to consume them if they stay outside any longer.

“C’mon,” Archie says getting to his feet and holding out a hand. “We should pack up the camping gear before the storm rolls in.”

*

The two of them don’t speak to each other much the rest of the night, sticking to short sentences and random gestures. The air between them is still slightly tense, but neither one of them know what to do about it. A part of Archie wishes that they hadn’t fought in the first place. Another part is glad that he said something, but wishes that his point had come across the way that he had originally planned for it to.

The two of them roll out of bed around ten the next morning, moving slowly but still making good time. Archie watches Jughead come out of the bathroom post-shower, wearing a sweatshirt and basketball shorts, his beanie in hand opposed to on his head. Archie swears his heart stops for a moment. Jughead looks at him, then down at his outfit.

“Sorry,” He says sheepishly “My jeans are still a little damp, so I borrowed your shorts. Is that cool?”

“Y-yeah- no, you’re good.” Archie stammers. 

They leave within the hour, wanting to get back to Riverdale before it gets to be too late in the day. Jughead insists that they stop for breakfast, and Archie isn’t about to refuse.

They find a Ma and Pa’s diner an hour outside of Dimeville, it’s a small hole in the wall place with only enough seating for a dozen people. The boys think that it’s perfect, they love the food, but of course it’ll never beat Pop’s. Not by a long shot.

It’s unnervingly silent on the drive home, it makes Archie’s skin tingle with worry. He doesn’t know what to make of the fight that they had yesterday, uncertain of where it leaves them as friends.

Once they’re two hours away from home, Archie looks over to find that Jughead has fallen asleep. His still hat-less head leans against the window, the air from his open mouth fogging up the glass with his breath. Archie finds himself looking over at Jughead every few seconds, just watching him sleep. After the tenth time of glancing at him, Archie thinks to himself: _God, I love him._

The thought nearly makes him swerve into the next lane, gives him goose bumps over his entire body in less than a second. Archie _loves_ Jughead, how did he not realize this before right now? He swears he needs to learn to pay more attention to his surroundings. Archie thinks back on all of the times he’s life he felt like this but…he’d never had a name for the feeling until now. It’s all that he can think about until Jughead wakes up, who calls him out.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that for?”

Archie looks away, mumbles an incoherent sentence about an eyelash on his cheeks, then turns on the radio for the first time all day. They switch off drivers shortly after that, and Archie spends the rest of the drive home trying to think of what he’s going to do with these newly discovered feelings as he stares out the window.

*

The sun is just starting to set as they pull into the Andrews driveway. Archie feels nervous as he hops out of the truck, unsure of what he’s going to say to Jughead now.

“Is it cool if I stay for dinner?” Jughead asks, having not realized that Archie wasn’t behind him. He turns around when he gets to the top of the steps and notices that Archie is still standing next to the truck looking at him curiously.

“What is it?”

Archie struggles to find the correct words. “Do you -uh… could I try something?”

“What kind of something?”

“…A romantic kind?”

Jughead throws him a quizzical look, that slowly turned to affectionate.

“Yes,” he says quietly, a small grin threatening to appear on his face.

Anxious, Archie pecks him on the mouth, then pulls away, expecting a reaction. The kiss doesn’t last more than a second, but it makes chills run down his spine. For that small but joyous moment, he swears he could do anything. Afterwards, Jughead doesn’t meet his eye as they pull apart, just grabs him by the wrist and pulls him inside, shutting the door behind him. He gapes at Archie and paces in front the staircase for a minute. He pauses, watching Archie stand in front him nervously, wringing his hands together.

“Do it again.”

“W-What?”

“Do it again,” Jughead says, more firmly than before, “Kiss me again.”

Archie nods, gently grabbing his chin with one hand and pulling him in again. The kiss is longer this time, slightly more forceful in its movements, they push against each other in a perfect rhythm. Archie swears it’s unlike any other kiss he’s ever had before. When it ends, the boys are still only inches away from each other. It’s not until that moment, looking right into Jughead’s eyes, that he realizes what he’s been missing out on all this time.

Jughead whispers, “I was wondering if you were ever going to do that.”

*

Later, up in Archie’s room, the two boys are half watching Kill Bill for the 12th time. They’re kissing like it’s the only thing that’s keeping them alive. Archie thinks of somethings while they’re sitting in front of each other on the bed.

“So, _kiss_ I know _kiss_ we haven’t exactly _kiss_ discussed boundaries _kiss_ or anything but _kiss_ -.”

“I’m good with most things above the waist _kiss_ for now at least _kiss_ it could change.”

Archie pulls away for his second question “At the lake house yesterday when we were fighting you started to say something about us being friends but _more_ …is this what you meant?”

“Nothing gets by you, does it Andrews?” Jughead says with a sly grin, “...Yeah, this is what I meant. I mean we’ve been _friends_ for forever, and I guess for a while it’s just felt like it should be something more, or that it would become like this.”

“Now look at us. We’re…something, right?”

Jughead huffs softly, a small smile gracing his face before answering.

“Yeah…definitely something.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that was fun.
> 
> Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it please do let me know by leaving a kudos or a comment. If you have a prompt you can leave it here or at my riverdale blog via tumblr (thejugheadchronicles). Thanks again for reading, have a great day!


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